In a
recent interview with Adam Bryant of The New York
Times, Bettinger
talked about one of the biggest career lessons he ever
learned.

It was in a business strategy course his senior
year of college, he tells Bryant.

Bettinger had maintained a 4.0 average all the
way through and wanted to graduate with a perfect GPA. But it all
came down to the final exam in that business course.

"I had spent many hours studying and memorizing formulas to do
calculations for the case studies," he recalls. "The teacher handed out the final exam, and
it was on one piece of paper, which really surprised me because I
figured it would be longer than that. Once everyone had their
paper, he said, 'Go ahead and turn it over.' Both sides were
blank."

Next, the professor said: "I've taught you everything I can teach
you about business in the last 10 weeks, but the most important
message, the most important question, is this: What's the name of
the lady who cleans this building?"

"That had a powerful impact,"
Bettinger tells Bryant. "It was the only test I ever failed,
and I got the 'B' I deserved.

"Her name was Dottie, and I didn't know Dottie. I'd seen her, but
I'd never taken the time to ask her name. I've tried to know
every Dottie I've worked with ever since."

Bettinger says that experience was a great
reminder of what really matters in life, "and that you should
never lose sight of people who do the real work."